U.S. Slaps Sanctions on Syria as Thatcher Arrives

President Reagan ordered a halt in all sales of aircraft, computers and other high-technology equipment to Syria today as part of a string of mild sanctions designed to punish the Damascus government for supporting terrorism.

The action was a show of support for British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as she arrived for two days of talks with President Reagan. Thatcher led the drive for similar sanctions by the European Community.

State Department spokesman Charles Redman said that the actions are deliberately limited and symbolic in nature, put forward as a means of persuading “Syria to change its behavior.”

The U.S. sanctions go farther than those imposed by the European Community but don’t go as far as Britain, which severed diplomatic relations with Syria after linking Damascus with a terrorist plot.

The limited steps announced by the White House and State Department include:

--Expanding export controls on sales to Syria, effectively banning the sale of any aircraft, aircraft spare parts and computers. It would not prohibit sales to Syria by foreign-based American subsidiaries.

--Terminating the Air Transport Agreement between the two countries, which would ban overflights by either country and ban the sale of tickets in the United States to Syrian Arab Airlines flights. The Syrian airline does not now fly to the United States.

--Reducing the staffs of both the U.S. and Syrian embassies in each other’s capital.

--Issuing a travel advisory to Americans, warning of Syria’s connection to terrorism.

Thatcher has led the European repudiation of Syria. Evidence presented in the recent London trial of Jordanian-born Nezar Hindawi indicated that the Syrian government had a direct role in his failed attempt to blow up an El Al jetliner in April.

Her weekend talks with Reagan and U.S. officials were expected to focus on British fears that U.S. nuclear negotiations with Moscow could endanger Western Europe.

The prime minister and her European allies are disturbed over what they see as Washington’s too-swift movement in negotiating with Moscow to cut back and eventually eliminate nuclear missiles in Europe.